


You're Cute When You Try

by Three_White_Elephants (Chameowmile)



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Dick's really not a good cook, Fluff, Jason teaching Dick how to cook, M/M, but he tries his hardest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 02:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15378633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chameowmile/pseuds/Three_White_Elephants
Summary: Dick tries his best to keep Jason from starving in his fairly understocked safehouse-- but soon finds that his efforts weren't as necessary as he actually thought.Aka, Dick sucks at cooking, but keeps doing it anyway because he thinks Jason's going to starve to death if he doesn't





	You're Cute When You Try

**Author's Note:**

  * For [A_reiirau1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_reiirau1/gifts).



> It's pretty much just solid fluff and slice of life nonsense with Jay and Dick being dorks, so hopefully you like it <3
> 
> Edit- I forgot what day these fics posted and nearly had a heart attack from all the comments, Istg

“Grayson, your food sucks” Comes Damian’s blunt decision at around ten pm.

 

Dick frowns a little, studying the lasagna he put together a minute before retorting. “Jason never complains about my cooking.”

 

“Well Jason is either sparing your diminutive ego, or too tasteblind to notice.” He sniffs unsympathetically, turning the tray around. “It’s burnt, oversalted, and you added jalapenos to it for no reason.”

 

“Peppers seemed like a good idea.” He mumbles. “Maybe he won't notice."

 

"If he doesn't I'd be seriously concerned. And you claim to have been taught how to cook by Pennyworth."

 

Dick groans. "Maybe I need to take a class. The community center offers them."

 

"Maybe they can teach you how to properly wash your dishes, too. And clean up after your messes."

 

Ouch.

 

~

Jason pets Dick's hair as they watch some old show in the shambles of his safehouse living room, occasionally adjusting their blankets to make them more comfortable and safe.

 

Dick always offers to let him come over to his place instead, but he will admit there’s something cozy about a place with poorly working lights, and nothing but a blanket drowned sofa to sleep on.

 

“Damian used your first name tonight.” He offers in amusement, as the VHS rewinds.

 

“Was it to be sassy. Because he doesn't even use your first name so I doubt it was to be nice."

 

“Aw, c'mon, he's really warming up to you!"

 

"Oh yeah, that doesn't seem implausible at all." He snorts, earning a smack on the arm.

 

~*~

For the past three months, Jason's been volunteering at his local community center in collaboration with Tim's food bank program, teaching kids how to cook with the things that they receive from the project, as well as how to find food cheaply and efficiently using their own resources when they need to.

 

Today he’s just going over breakfast things, because there's a lot of possibilities with that. He’s in the middle of rambling about the benefits of eggs when the door to his kitchen pop open and an adult comes walking in.

 

This isn’t unusual, sometimes college students stop by, or parents of the kids-- but it quickly becomes clear that that's not quite the case this time when he realizes it's Dick who just showed up.

 

As the man glances up in apparent bafflement at all the children-- Jason having swapped classrooms with the adult cooking instructor this morning- he seems to catch sight of his boyfriend standing there in the middle of it all and makes a noise of alarm.

 

Judging by the look of sheer terror on Dick’s face, he didn’t expect to see Jason here and probably didn't know he taught a class like this at all.

 

“Oh look!" Jay calls, grabbing the kids' attention.  "My assistant is here!” 

 

Dick croaks as all those eyes turn to him, and reflexively fidgets closer to his boyfriend, hissing nervously, “Wh-what? Jason! Why are you here?!”

 

“Teaching a cooking class! What does it look like?”

 

“You can cook?!”

 

"Hell yeah, learned from Alfred."

 

~*~

When he found this community center pamphlet on Jason’s coffee table, listing some cooking classes, he only picked it because it said it was funded by the Wayne foundation and he thought it would be nice to check in on. He certainly wasn't expecting Jason to be actively involved with it, and certainly not with children.

 

But seeing him now, calmly chatting with them about all sorts of things, from kitchen safety, to food storage, it seems like he's a natural.

 

Dick doesn’t really know if the younger man actively enjoys being around kids, but he’s certainly good at handling them and never lets it show if he doesn't.

 

Jason's ushered him in close behind the counter beside him, and is instructing him on how to cook french toast with all the kids present-- but a fancier kind than they're making apparently, with orange peels and vanilla and stuff in it. This is all fine and dandy with him, but he's not doing too hot with how much he keeps burning the batches.

 

"If you know how to cook, then why the heck am I always bringing food over to your place?" He asks. "I could've just been bringing the ingredients." His cheeks are burning now with the revelation that Jason may not have been as oblivious to his poor cooking abilities as he had initially been lead to believe.

 

“Mm...” A hand pats him comfortingly to the curve of his shoulder. “Because it’s really cute when you try to help.”

 

~

Jason Todd, resident Wayne family badboy, is wearing a white chef’s coat clearly tailored by Alfred, and cooking sweets with a dozen kids under the age of fifteen.

 

When the last one’s out the door, some sweeping still needed, and a few dishes in the sink, Jason hums a cheery, "I'll teach you how to cook something for dinner, tonight.”

 

“Wait, what?!”

 

~

They’re grocery shopping together. It’s a surreal experience, really, and Dick is honestly just in shock as Jay picks out random ingredients from the shelves and dairy cases, hand kept on the back of his spine as he ushers him along. Like he thinks he might get lost if he lets him too far out of sight. Which is possible, but unlikely.

 

He’s not saving any expense on the ingredients, and seems to be buying enough for two separate recipes, eventually explaining, as they walk down the street after checkout, “I have the recipe Alfred taught me, and the shortcut recipe I use when I don’t feel like doing all those steps. I’ll do the hard one, and you’ll do the easy one. It'll be fun."

 

“We’re not going to eat that much food by ourselves.” He snorts-- Jason opening the door to a bakery they've ended up by.

 

The owners of the shop seem extremely acquainted with him, Dick never getting an answer to his concerns as Jason orders a dozen cannolis, and about two dozen miscellaneous pastries to take back with them.

 

On the way out, he quietly reiterates his thoughts, exclaiming, “We’re really not going to eat all of this.” as he situates the boxes and steals a cannoli.

 

Jason seems amused. “Do we really need a reason to make a bunch of leftovers?" He asks, taking a cannoli too. "I figure you can pawn anything you don’t want off on the other batbrats if it’s such a big deal.”

 

Dick does suppose Damian would probably enjoy the treats, and Tim could probably use the sustenance, so he nods, relaxing a bit more.

 

~

The kitchen in Jason’s safehouse is small and just a bit rickety. An old gas stove with only one functioning burner, an oven that doesn’t quite want to heat up, and a sink that sputters concerningly any time Dick tries to turn it on.

 

There’s no dishwasher, and Dick’s already dreading the cleanup this is going to require after they’re done-- but they can use it as a bonding opportunity while they wait for the food to bake.

 

As they start cooking though, Dick starts to realize that maybe this won’t work out as well as Jason had hoped, because while one would think it’d be really easy to mix whatever the man tells him to, or just watch a pot on the stove-- Jay keeps distracting him.

 

Nuzzling against his throat, and giving him kisses while he tries to do things isn't helping his focus much.

 

He’s already accidentally dumped way too much garlic powder into the filling of his allegedly simplified recipe, and managed to blow up a jar of sauce he was trying to microwave, when, in retrospect, he has no idea why he was microwaving it to begin with. Let alone why he tried microwaving it with the metal cap still on.

 

Unfortunately, he’s already too far into this disaster to give up. So he eats a weird doughnut looking thing from the box of quickly diminishing pastries, and stubbornly presses on, feeling frustrated as Jason easily continues making the much more complicated from-scratch version of the recipe a few feet away.

 

Dick's now begun work on pulling apart the noodles he left sitting out too long and nearly jumps clear of his skin when Jason presses a soft hand to his shoulder to check up on him.

 

“Hey, relax.”

 

He scowls, cheeks reddening further as he goes back to what he's doing, saying a little irritably, “I am relaxed! Don’t you have your own recipe to make?”

 

When that hand doesn’t leave his shoulder though, and Jason keeps watching him, he tries to look less like an idiot as he pulls apart the last two noodles, somehow keeping them intact and laying them down in their pan without issue.

 

“You’re doing great, sweetie.”

 

 

He nearly has a heart attack, sputtering in bafflement at the praise.

 

~

The problem with boredom nibbling on everything is the fact that by the time the food’s in the oven, Dick isn’t remotely hungry anymore.

 

In fact, as someone who doesn’t really eat a lot of sweets in his every day life, his snacking on the pastries has mostly just left him queasy.

 

So he works on washing out pots and pans in silent focus, Jason cleaning off the counters and everything else while the younger man hums a miscellaneous song.

 

He seems in a pretty good mood, and while Dick’s determined to continue his pout over this-- it’s sort of hard to stay grumpy when Jason wraps his arms around his waist and rests his head on his shoulder again, cheekily joking, “Don’t look so down, princess, I can always do the dishes for you.”

 

 

"I can do the dishes just fine!" He splutters, Jason kissing him soundly on the cheek before taking the pot from his hand.

 

"Let's just let this soak for a while."

 

~

Dick’s been assigned to the couch for the rest of the evening, and is quietly lying in the living room by himself when the man pops back in to join him, asking easily, “Wanna watch a movie?”

 

“Is the food done?”

 

A nod. “Cooling, but you can get some if you want.” Jason's now settling himself in underneath Dick’s legs at the end of the couch, and drawing a blanket around himself.

 

It’s comfortable, and Dick smiles a little.

 

“Do you want me to get you some food too?”

 

“If you want to brought me back a bite of something chocolate, I wouldn’t be upset.”

 

~

Returning with his food, and Jason’s treat, he tucks himself in beside him, the movie scrolling through its opening as Jay rubs his shoulders comfortingly.

 

Dick quietly tests the food he got, a little bit from each of their pans, and is actually mildly surprised to find that they taste about the same. 

 

“Wow, that actually worked.” He exclaims, Jay snorting at that.

 

“Your problem is you get distracted. If you double check your ingredients, and have someone there to keep you from getting lost, you do just great.”

 

"Maybe Damian can help me a bit."

 

"He'd definitely be a stickler for perfection."

 

~

The night is gentle, Jay rubbing the back of his neck and kissing him while Dick considers all the things that he could teach him how to do.

 

“Um, I could show you how to make candy apples sometime.” He mumbles, pulling back a little bit.

 

Jason chuckles, watching the movie a minute before replying. "That would be the only thing you know how to cook."

 

"Well, I’d make them at the circus when I was little." He beams. "For extra money.”

 

“And where’d you get the apples?”

 

“Sifka's pen. I’d buy her new ones with the profit.”

 

“Uh huh, and what’d you spend the rest of your money on?”

 

“Candy cigarettes! And more cinnamon drops to make apples with.”

 

“You’re joking.”

 

“Nope. One of the vendors sold penny candy, so I’d buy it all up when I could and eat it between performances.”

 

“No wonder your teeth were so terrible when you were a kid.”

 

"Rude! At least I didn't have braces.”

 

“Oh yeah?” He mumbles, kissing Dick again. “I do think I have the nicest teeth in the family because of those braces.”

 

Dick swats him on the shoulder, laughing, ”Oh shut up."

 

“Not my fault little OG Robin was too cool for braces.” He teases back.

 

“Not my fault we didn’t have fancy transparent ones like you did when I was a kid!” He retorts in amusement, Jason shoving him playfully to the side, just as Dick's cellphone starts to ring on the coffee table.

 

He reaches to grab the device, and notes that it’s Damian.

 

“Hello?”

 

The kid hums a quick response. “I’m spending the night at Jonathon’s house, so don’t expect to see me at the apartment tonight.”

 

“Oh..." Well, that means he won't have to go home to bring food it seems. " have fun then! Don't do anything to get yourselves grounded.”

 

“We’ll see about that.” He mutters vaguely, Dick hearing John tell some sort of muffled joke in the background that makes Damian do something to make him yelp in turn. He doesn't say goodbye when he hangs up, but that's typical.

 

Despite himself, he smiles after the call is over, and looks up at Jason. “Do you want to go on a patrol tonight?”

 

“Hell yeah. Your sidekick cancel on you?”

 

“Something like that.” He stretches out. “And I can spend the night again too.”

 

“Let's go put the leftovers away before we get ahead of ourselves, Goldie.”

 

Ugh, he hates cleanup. He wonders if that pot is still soaking.

 

 


End file.
